Method and device for paging a machine to machine device

ABSTRACT

A terminal device for use with a wireless telecommunications network, the terminal device including a transceiver, and a controller configured to control the transceiver to begin receiving, during one of a plurality of periodic paging occasions associated with the terminal device, a scheduling signal scheduling a paging message for paging one or more terminal devices of the wireless telecommunications network, and determine whether a value of a characteristic of the received scheduling signal matches a value of a characteristic of a scheduling signal associated with the one of the plurality of periodic paging occasions associated with the terminal device.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.16/791,780, filed Feb. 14, 2020, which is a continuation of U.S.application Ser. No. 16/091,273, filed Oct. 4, 2018, which is a NationalPhase of PCT/EP2017/057758 filed Mar. 31, 2017, and claims priority toEuropean Patent Application No. 16163933.1, filed Apr. 5, 2016. Theentire contents of each of which are incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND Field of Disclosure

The present disclosure relates to a terminal device, infrastructureequipment, methods and integrated circuitry for use with a wirelesstelecommunications network.

Description of Related Art

The “background” description provided herein is for the purpose ofgenerally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of thepresently named inventors, to the extent it is described in thisbackground section, as well as aspects of the description which may nototherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neitherexpressly or impliedly admitted as prior art against the presentdisclosure.

Third and fourth generation wireless communications systems, such asthose based on the third generation project partnership (3GPP) definedUMTS and Long Term Evolution (LTE) architecture are able to supportsophisticated services such as instant messaging, video calls as well ashigh speed internet access. For example, with the improved radiointerface and enhanced data rates provided by LTE systems, a user isable to enjoy high data rate applications such as mobile video streamingand mobile video conferencing that would previously only have beenavailable via a fixed line data connection. The demand to deploy thirdand fourth generation networks is therefore strong and the coverage areaof these networks, i.e. geographic locations where access to thenetworks is possible, is expected to increase rapidly. However, whilstfourth generation networks can support communications at high data rateand low latencies from devices such as smart phones and tabletcomputers, it is expected that future wireless communications networkswill need to support communications to and from a much wider range ofdevices, including reduced complexity devices, machine typecommunication devices, devices which require little or no mobility, highresolution video displays and virtual reality headsets. As such,supporting such a wide range of communications devices can represent atechnical challenge for a wireless communications network.

A current technical area of interest to those working in the field ofwireless and mobile communications is known as “The Internet of Things”or IoT for short. The 3GPP has proposed to develop technologies forsupporting narrow band (NB)-IoT using an LTE or 4G wireless accessinterface and wireless infrastructure. Such IoT devices are expected tobe low complexity and inexpensive devices requiring infrequentcommunication of relatively low bandwidth data. It is also expected thatthere will be an extremely large number of IoT devices which would needto be supported in a cell of the wireless communications network.Furthermore such NB-IoT devices are likely to be deployed indoors and/orin remote locations making radio communications challenging.

SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

According to a first embodiment, the present technique provides aterminal device for use with a wireless telecommunications network, theterminal device comprising: a transceiver; and a controller operable: tocontrol the transceiver to begin receiving, during one of a plurality ofperiodic paging occasions associated with the terminal device, ascheduling signal scheduling a paging message for paging one or moreterminal devices of the wireless telecommunications network, eachperiodic paging occasion associated with the terminal device beingassociated with a value of a characteristic of the scheduling signalwhich is different from a value of the characteristic of the schedulingsignal associated with one or more of each of the other periodic pagingoccasions associated with the terminal device and each of periodicpaging occasions associated with one or more other terminal devices ofthe wireless telecommunications network; to determine whether the valueof the characteristic of the received scheduling signal matches thevalue of the characteristic of the scheduling signal associated with theone of the plurality of periodic paging occasions associated with theterminal device; and if the value of the characteristic of the receivedscheduling signal matches the value of the characteristic of thescheduling signal associated with the one of the plurality of periodicpaging occasions associated with the terminal device, to control thetransceiver to receive the paging message scheduled by the receivedscheduling message.

According to the first embodiment, the present technique also providesinfrastructure equipment for use with a wireless telecommunicationsnetwork, the infrastructure equipment comprising: a transceiver; and acontroller operable: to control the transceiver to begin transmitting,during one of a plurality of periodic paging occasions associated with aterminal device of the wireless telecommunications network, a schedulingsignal scheduling a paging message for paging the terminal device,wherein a value of a characteristic of the scheduling signal isassociated with the one of the plurality of periodic paging occasionsassociated with the terminal device, each periodic paging occasionassociated with the terminal device being associated with a value of thecharacteristic of the scheduling signal which is different from a valueof the characteristic of the scheduling signal associated with one ormore of each of the other periodic paging occasions associated with theterminal device and each of periodic paging occasions associated withone or more other terminal devices of the wireless telecommunicationsnetwork.

According to a second embodiment, the present technique provides aterminal device for use with a wireless telecommunications network, theterminal device comprising: a transceiver; and a controller operable: tocontrol the transceiver to begin receiving, during one of a plurality ofperiodic paging occasions associated with the terminal device, ascheduling signal scheduling a paging message for paging the terminaldevice; wherein the scheduling signal is repeatedly transmitted by thenetwork a predetermined number of times over a predetermined pluralityof separate time periods, each of the separate time periods having aduration less than or equal to a time period between consecutiveperiodic paging occasions associated with the terminal device and withany other terminal device of the wireless telecommunications networkwith which a plurality of periodic paging occasions is associated, andone of the separate time periods being during a periodic paging occasionor between periodic paging occasions other than the one of the pluralityof periodic paging occasions during which the transceiver is controlledto begin receiving the scheduling signal; and the controller is operableto control the transceiver to receive the repetitions of the schedulingsignal over the predetermined plurality of separate time periods.

According to the second embodiment, the present technique also providesinfrastructure equipment for use with a wireless telecommunicationsnetwork, the infrastructure equipment comprising: a transceiver; and acontroller operable: to control the transceiver to begin transmitting,during one of a plurality of periodic paging occasions associated with aterminal device of the wireless telecommunications network, a schedulingsignal scheduling a paging message for paging the terminal device;wherein the controller is operable to control the transceiver torepeatedly transmit the scheduling signal a predetermined number oftimes over a predetermined plurality of separate time periods, each ofthe separate time periods having a duration less than or equal to a timeperiod between consecutive periodic paging occasions associated with theterminal device and with any other terminal device of the wirelesstelecommunications network with which a plurality of periodic pagingoccasions is associated, and one of the separate time periods beingduring a periodic paging occasion or between periodic paging occasionsother than the one of the plurality of periodic paging occasions duringwhich the transceiver is controlled to begin transmitting the schedulingsignal.

The foregoing paragraphs have been provided by way of generalintroduction, and are not intended to limit the scope of the followingclaims. The described embodiments, together with further advantages,will be best understood by reference to the following detaileddescription taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A more complete appreciation of the disclosure and many of the attendantadvantages thereof will be readily obtained as the same becomes betterunderstood by reference to the following detailed description whenconsidered in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein likereference numerals designate identical or corresponding parts throughoutthe several views, and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram illustrating an example of a mobiletelecommunication system;

FIG. 2 is a schematic representation illustrating a frame structure of adownlink of a wireless access interface according to an LTE standard;

FIG. 3 is a schematic representation illustrating a frame structure ofan uplink of wireless access interface according to an LTE standard;

FIG. 4 is a schematic representation of a terminal device andinfrastructure equipment;

FIG. 5 is a schematic representation of an NB-PDCCH search space;

FIG. 6 is a schematic representation of a plurality of paging occasionsduring which groups of UEs may search the NB-PDCCH search space;

FIG. 7 is a schematic representation of an NB-PDCCH search spaceoverlapping paging occasions associated with separate groups of UEs;

FIG. 8 is a schematic representation an NB-PDCCH search spaceoverlapping paging occasions associated with the same group of UEs;

FIG. 9 is a schematic representation of segmentation of the NB-PDCCHaccording to a first example;

FIG. 10 is a schematic representation of segmentation of the NB-PDCCHaccording to a second example;

FIG. 11 is a schematic representation of segmentation of the NB-PDCCHaccording to a third example; and

FIG. 12 illustrates a flow chart schematically showing a first method;and

FIG. 13 illustrates a flow chart schematically showing a second method.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

Conventional Communications System

FIG. 1 provides a schematic diagram illustrating some basicfunctionality of a mobile telecommunications network/system 100operating in accordance with LTE principles and which may be adapted toimplement embodiments of the disclosure as described further below.Various elements of FIG. 1 and their respective modes of operation arewell-known and defined in the relevant standards administered by the3GPP® body, and also described in many books on the subject, forexample, Holma H. and Toskala A [1]. It will be appreciated thatoperational aspects of the telecommunications network which are notspecifically described below may be implemented in accordance with anyknown techniques, for example according to the relevant standards.

The network 100 includes a plurality of base stations 101 connected to acore network 102. Each base station provides a coverage area 103 (i.e. acell) within which data can be communicated to and from communicationsdevices 104. Data is transmitted from base stations 101 tocommunications devices 104 within their respective coverage areas 103via a radio downlink. Data is transmitted from communications devices104 to the base stations 101 via a radio uplink. The uplink and downlinkcommunications are made using radio resources that are licenced forexclusive use by the operator of the network 100. The core network 102routes data to and from the communications devices 104 via therespective base stations 101 and provides functions such asauthentication, mobility management, charging and so on. Communicationsdevices may also be referred to as mobile stations, user equipment (UE),user device, mobile radio, terminal device and so forth. Base stationsmay also be referred to as transceiver stations/infrastructureequipment/NodeBs/eNodeBs (eNB for short), and so forth.

Wireless communications systems such as those arranged in accordancewith the 3GPP defined Long Term Evolution (LTE) architecture use anorthogonal frequency division modulation (OFDM) based interface for theradio downlink (so-called OFDMA) and a single carrier frequency divisionmultiple access scheme (SC-FDMA) on the radio uplink.

FIG. 2 provides a simplified schematic diagram of the structure of adownlink of a wireless access interface that may be provided by or inassociation with the eNB of FIG. 1 when the communications system isoperating in accordance with the LTE standard. In LTE systems thewireless access interface of the downlink from an eNB to a UE is basedupon an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) access radiointerface. In an OFDM interface the resources of the available bandwidthare divided in frequency into a plurality of orthogonal subcarriers anddata is transmitted in parallel on a plurality of orthogonalsubcarriers, where bandwidths between 1.4 MHz and 20 MHz bandwidth maybe divided into 128 to 2048 orthogonal subcarriers for example. Eachsubcarrier bandwidth may take any value but in LTE it is conventionallyfixed at 15 kHz. However it has been proposed in the future [2][3] toprovide also a reduced subcarrier spacing of 3.75 kHz for certain partsof the LTE wireless access interface for the uplink. As shown in FIG. 2, the resources of the wireless access interface are also temporallydivided into frames where a frame 200 lasts 10 ms and is subdivided into10 subframes 201 each with a duration of 1 ms. Each subframe is formedfrom 14 OFDM symbols and is divided into two slots each of whichcomprise six or seven OFDM symbols depending on whether a normal orextended cyclic prefix is being utilised between OFDM symbols for thereduction of inter symbol interference. The resources within a slot maybe divided into resources blocks 203 each comprising 12 subcarriers forthe duration of one slot and the resources blocks further divided intoresource elements 204 which span one subcarrier for one OFDM symbol,where each rectangle 204 represents a resource element. More details ofthe downlink structure of the LTE wireless access interface are providedin Annex 1.

FIG. 3 provides a simplified schematic diagram of the structure of anuplink of an LTE wireless access interface that may be provided by or inassociation with the eNB of FIG. 1 . In LTE networks the uplink wirelessaccess interface is based upon a single carrier frequency divisionmultiplexing FDM (SC-FDM) interface and downlink and uplink wirelessaccess interfaces may be provided by frequency division duplexing (FDD)or time division duplexing (TDD), where in TDD implementations subframesswitch between uplink and downlink subframes in accordance withpredefined patterns. However, regardless of the form of duplexing used,a common uplink frame structure is utilised. The simplified structure ofFIG. 3 illustrates such an uplink frame in an FDD implementation. Aframe 300 is divided in to 10 subframes 301 of 1 ms duration where eachsubframe 301 comprises two slots 302 of 0.5 ms duration. Each slot isthen formed from seven OFDM symbols 303 where a cyclic prefix 304 isinserted between each symbol in a manner equivalent to that in downlinksubframes. In FIG. 3 a normal cyclic prefix is used and therefore thereare seven OFDM symbols within a subframe, however, if an extended cyclicprefix were to be used, each slot would contain only six OFDM symbols.The resources of the uplink subframes are also divided into resourceblocks and resource elements in a similar manner to downlink subframes.More details of the LTE uplink represented in FIG. 3 are provided inAnnex 1.

Narrowband Internet of Things

As explained above, it has been proposed to develop an adaptation of amobile communications network to accommodate narrow band communicationswithin an existing wireless access interface which has been developed toprovide broadband wireless communications. For example, in 3GPP aproject relating to improvements to LTE wireless access interfaces toprovide for a Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) was agreed [2].This project is aimed at improved indoor coverage, support for massivenumber of low throughput devices, low delay sensitivity, ultra-lowdevice cost, low device power consumption and (optimised) networkarchitecture. An example of such a device is a smart meter. It has beenproposed that an NB-IoT communications system supports a bandwidth ofonly 180 kHz and can have three operational modes:

1. ‘Stand-alone operation’ utilizing for example the spectrum currentlybeing used by GERAN systems as a replacement of one or more GSM carriers

2. ‘Guard band operation’ utilizing the unused resource blocks within aLTE carrier's guard-band

3. ‘In-band operation’ utilizing resource blocks within a normal LTEcarrier

FIG. 4 provides an example schematic block diagram of a terminal deviceor UE 104 and an infrastructure equipment or eNB 101 according toembodiments of the present technique. As shown in FIG. 4 , the UE 104includes a transmitter 401 and a receiver 402 (which together form atransceiver) which are controlled by a controller 403. The UE 104 alsocomprises a storage medium 420 for storing data. Correspondingly, theeNB 101 includes a transmitter 411 and a receiver 412 (which togetherform a transceiver) which are controlled by a controller 413 (which canalso implement a scheduler function). The eNB 101 also comprises astorage medium 422 for storing data. As explained above, the UE 104transmits and receives signals to and from the eNB 101 via a wirelessaccess interface provided by the eNB as part of the wirelesscommunications network. Each of the UE 104 and eNB 101 are configured toexchange signals with each other using NB-IoT.

One of the objectives of NB-IoT is to provide extended coverage of up to20 dB. The main mechanism to extend coverage is to perform numerousrepetitions of a message to be received at a receiving device, such thatthe receiver can accumulate the signal energy over the repetitivesamples in order for it to have an increased signal-to-noise ratio(SNR), which increases the likelihood of successful decoding of themessage at the receiving device. Such a mechanism is known as coverageenhancement (CE).

Coverage enhancement (CE) may have several levels. For example, it mayprovide one of 5 dB, 15 dB and 20 dB additional coverage enhancement. InNB-IoT, the CE levels may be referred to as the targeted MCL (MaxCoupling Loss, the achievable coupling loss (accounting for, forexample, path loss, feeder losses and/or antenna gains) betweentransmitter and receiver) of, for example, 144 dB, 154 dB and 164 dB (sothat the higher the targeted MCL, the greater the additional coverageenhancement).

As previously mentioned, repetitions of a signal so that a receiver canaccumulate energy of the signal over numerous repetitive samples is thebasic method used for coverage enhancement. The number of repetitionsrequired is dependent upon the CE level. Thus, a UE at a lower CE level,such as at 144 dB, MCL requires less repetition compared to one at ahigher CE level, such as at 154 dB MCL. The power spectral density, PSD(mW/Hz) of a transmission also affects the number of repetitionsrequired, that is, the larger the PSD, the less the required number ofrepetitions.

The NB-PDCCH (Narrow Band Physical Downlink Control Channel) is acontrol channel that is used to schedule downlink resources (downlinkgrant) and uplink resources (uplink grant) for a NB-PDSCH (Narrow BandPhysical Downlink Shared Channel) and a NB-PUSCH (Narrow Band PhysicalUplink Shared Channel) that carry data traffic. An NB-PDCCH search spaceconsists of multiple NB-PDCCH candidates wherein each candidate has aspecific starting time, set of subcarriers, a defined number ofrepetitions and an aggregation level (the aggregation level relating tothe number of frequency resources occupied by the candidate such thatwhen the candidate occupies a higher number of frequency resources, theaggregation level is higher, and when the candidate occupies a lowernumber of frequency resources, the aggregation level is lower).Candidates that have a larger number of repetitions and a higheraggregation level are more robust and can reach a UE at poorer coveragecompared to candidates that have a smaller number of repetitions and alower aggregation level.

The eNB uses one of the candidates in the search space to carry theNB-PDCCH. The UE is not aware which candidate is used and so it mustblind decode all the candidates in the search space in order to find thecandidate used by the eNB for the NB-PDCCH. An example of a typicalNB-PDCCH search space is shown in FIG. 5 . Here, the search space has 4repetition levels {R1, R2, R3, R4} where R4=2×R3=4×R2=8×R1. It should beappreciated that an NB-PDCCH search space with other repetition levelsis also possible. As an example the eNB can use any of the 15 candidates(labelled as C1 to C15) to carry the NB-PDCCH and the UE has to blinddecode for all 15 candidates. The max repetition R_(MAX) (in FIG. 5 ,R_(MAX)=R4) of the search space is assigned to the UE based on the UE'sradio condition. Thus, for example, if the UE is in a poorer qualityradio coverage location, then the eNB can configure a search space witha larger value of R_(MAX), and if the UE is in a better quality radiocoverage location, then the eNB can configure a search space with asmaller value of R_(MAX). Typically, a set of NB-PDCCH search spaces ispredefined in which each NB-PDCCH search space of the set consists of aset of candidates and a value of R_(MAX). The UE is then assigned oneNB-PDCCH search space in the set of NB-PDCCH search spaces. The maximumrepetition R_(MAX) of an NB-PDCCH search space can be selected from theset of values {1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024, 2048}, forexample.

In NB-IoT, paging is performed when a UE is in idle mode. Morespecifically, when in idle mode, the UE monitors an NB-PDCCH CSS (CommonSearch Space) which, in the case that a paging message is to betransmitted to the UE, contains an NB-PDCCH that schedules that pagingmessage (the paging message being carried by an NB-PDSCH). In order toreduce power consumption, the UE monitors the NB-PDCCH CSS during eachof a plurality of periodic Paging Occasions (PO) rather than constantlymonitoring the NB-PDCCH CCS. The PO occurs periodically for a particularUE (or particular group of UEs), wherein the period is configured by thenetwork, for example. In an embodiment, the network can configuremultiple POs in which the specific PO that a UE monitors depends on anidentifier of that that UE (UE-ID), for example, the UE's InternationalMobile Subscriber Identifity (IMSI). This enables the network to spreadthe paging load. For example in FIG. 6 , the eNB configures four POswhere each PO has a period T_(PO). The UE thus wakes up every T_(PO) msto monitor for possible paging. The PO is assigned to the UE based onthe UE's ID, using a MOD function of the number of POs, for example(thus, in the case of FIG. 6 , the PO assigned to a particular UE isgiven by UE_ID MOD 4).

As described previously, repetition of the paging CSS can reach 2048. Aproblem with this is that a PO can overlap another PO, causing confusionfor UEs reading the PO. For example in FIG. 7 , two POs are configured.PO 1 begins at time t₁, where UE 1 belonging to this PO will startmonitoring for NB-PDCCH in the paging CSS. This paging CSS ends at timet₃. If the repetition of NB-PDCCH is very long (for example, if thepaging CSS ending at time t₃ has the structure shown in FIG. 5 , and theNB-PDDCH is received via the candidate C15 with the largest number ofrepetitions), it will overlap into PO 2 at time t₂. At time t₂ UE 2belonging to PO 2 will start monitoring for NB-PDCCH and will start toaccumulate repetition samples from the NB-PDCCH intended for UE 1(belong to PO 1). If UE 2 is in a better radio condition than UE 1, itmay decode the NB-PDCCH and start to accumulate and decode thecorresponding NB-PDSCH containing the paging message. UE 2 will not findany paging indication in this paging message and would waste batterypower accumulating and decoding the NB-PDSCH. This is because the pagingmessage contains an identifier of each UE to be paged. If a pagingmessage is not intended for UE 2, then the identifier of UE 2 will notbe included in the paging message and thus UE 2 will not be paged.However, since UE 2 has received the NB-PDCCH during its pagingoccasion, it will still attempt to read the paging message scheduled bythe NB-PDCCH by accumulating and decoding the NB-PDSCH, thus wastingbattery power. It should be noted that the NB-PDSCH is also repeated.

It should also be appreciated that if the PO period T_(PO) is shorterthan the NB-PDCCH repetition, the PO may overlap itself, as shown in anexample in FIG. 8 , in which the NB-PDCCH for PO 1 starts at time t₁ butthe repetition doesn't end till time t₄. It overlaps the next PO 1 attime t₃. In this scenario, the UE belonging to PO 1 is confused as towhether to continue accumulating samples from the previous PO 1 (startedat time t₁) or start a new accumulation starting at time t₃.Furthermore, in an embodiment, the NB-PDSCH starting subframe isindicated in the downlink control information (DCI) of the NB-PDCCH,this NB-PDSCH starting subframe being defined relative to the end of theNB-PDCCH that schedules this NB-PDSCH. In order to determine the end ofan NB-PDCCH transmission, the repetition of the NB-PDCCH is indicated inthe DCI of that NB-PDCCH. For example, in FIG. 5 , if candidate C11 isused to carry the NB-PDCCH (including the DCI), then the NB-PDSCHscheduled by the NB-PDCCH will start at k subframes after time t₆ (t₆marking the end of the NB-PDCCH carried by candidate C11) where k isindicated in the DCI. Since the UE can decode a message with lessrepetition when it has a good radio condition, however, the UE maydecode C11 at time is and mistake candidate C11 for candidate C5. The UEwill thereby use the wrong reference point for the start of theNB-PDSCH. To avoid this, the repetition of the NB-PDCCH is indicated inthe DCI so that the UE will not mistake candidate C11 for C5. However,this does not solve the problem shown in FIG. 8 in which the searchspace overlaps itself. In this case, although the UE will know therepetition of the NB-PDCCH from the DCI information, the UE does notknow whether the NP-PDCCH repetitions started at time t₁ or at time t₃.This causes confusion at the UE regarding the candidates.

In LTE Release-13 eMTC (enhanced Machine Type Communication), the POsare separated far apart so that they do not overlap. This is possiblebecause the repetition used in this case is not as large as that used inNB-IoT. Furthermore, eMTC can use different narrowbands for differentgroups of UEs and avoid overlapping. In contrast, only the anchor NB-IoTcan contain the paging CSS and paging message, and therefore problem ofoverlapping of the NB-PDCCH between different POs requires a newsolution.

In an embodiment of the present technique, an indicator is used todistinguish one PO from another. The UE belonging to a PO then uses thisindicator to determine whether the NB-PDCCH belongs to it or to anotherPO.

In one embodiment, the said indicator is a PO index in the DCI (carriedby the NB-PDCCH). A new field in the DCI would indicate which PO the DCI(that is, the NB-PDCCH) belongs to. The UE, after accumulating theNB-PDCCH, will then decode the DCI and check the PO index to see whetherit matches the PO that the UE belongs to.

In another embodiment, different versions of the same PO are alsoindicated in the DCI. This is to help overcome the issue of uncertaintyat the UE regarding when the search space starts when a NB-PDCCHrepetition is larger than the PO period T_(PO) (as described in FIG. 8). For example, in FIG. 8 , PO 1 at time t₁ can be version 1 and PO 1 attime t₃ can be version 2, these versions being distinguishable from eachother by the PO identifier in the DCI so the UE is clear where thesearch space starts. This helps to avoid confusion of the candidates inthe search space.

In another embodiment the starting time of the CSS is indicated in theDCI. This is similar to indicating the PO index (which indirectlyindicates the starting time of the CSS). After decoding the DCI, the UEwill determine whether the starting time of the decoded NB-PDCCH belongsto the CSS that starts at its PO or another PO. If the CSS starts at atime belonging to another PO, the UE can discard the decoded DCI.

In another embodiment, a different P-RNTI (Paging Radio NetworkTemporary Identifier) is used for one or more of each respective PO andeach respective PO version. The P-RNTI of each respective PO and/or eachrespective PO version can be signalled either explicitly or implicitly(that is, derived from a reference P-RNTI). For example, in the casethat a different P-RNTI is used for each respective PO, the eNB maysignal a single reference P-RNTI and PO 1 will use this P-RNTI, PO 2will use this reference P-RNTI+1, PO 3 will use P-RNTI+2, and so on.

In another embodiment, a scrambling applied to the NB-PDCCH is dependentupon the PO. The UE then applies a descrambler depending upon which POit belongs to. A different scrambling may be applied to each respectivePO (so as to distinguish, for example, PO 1 from PO 2, but notdistinguish between different versions of PO 1 or PO 2). Alternatively,or in addition, a different scrambling may be applied to each respectivePO version (so that different versions of, for example, PO 1 or PO 2 maybe distinguished from each other).

It will be appreciated that various features of these embodiments may becombined as appropriate. For example, it may be the case that eachrespective PO is distinguished by a different scrambling, but then eachversion of that PO is further distinguished in the DCI.

In another embodiment of the present technique, two or more differentNB-PDCCH search spaces (that is, Common Search Spaces) are configuredwherein at least one of these search spaces has max repetition R1_(MAX)greater than the time between two adjacent POs T_(S) (thus potentiallycausing the overlapping issue described in FIG. 7 ) whilst the remainingsearch spaces have max repetition R2_(MAX) smaller than T_(S). In thisway the search space with R1_(MAX) can be segmented and interleaved withsearch spaces with R2_(MAX). An example is shown in FIG. 9 , where eachPO is associated with one of two types of NB-PDCCH Common Search Space(CSS) with R1_(MAX) and R2_(MAX), respectively. CSS1 belongs to PO1,starts at time t₁ and has a max repetition of R1_(MAX) whereR1_(MAX)>T_(S), (meaning that, if measures are not taken, then CSS1 willoverlap with the adjacent PO (that is, PO2)). Using the method of anembodiment, CSS1 (belonging to the first version of PO1) is segmentedinto 3 segments, wherein the 1st segment starts at time t₁ and ends attime t₂. The 2nd segment occupies the time t₃ to t₄, which avoidsoverlapping CSS2 (belonging to the first version of PO2) between time t₂and t₃. The 3rd segment occupies time t₅ to t₆, which avoids overlappingCSS3 (belonging to the second version of PO1) between time t₄ and t₅.The segments of CSS1 are therefore interleaved with CSS2 and CSS3. CSS3and CSS4 belong to PO1 (the second and third versions of PO1,respectively) but with a smaller maximum repetition, that is,R2_(MAX)<T_(S), and therefore do not overlap with any adjacent PO. CSS3and CSS4 are thus not segmented. CSS5 belongs to PO2 (in particular, thesecond version of PO2), and since its max repetition is greater thatT_(S), it is segmented and interleaved in a similar manner as that forCSS1. The example in FIG. 9 shows two types of CSS (that is, with twodifferent max repetition values). However, it should be appreciated thismethod is also applicable for more than two different max repetitionCSSs. Also, the segments of CSS1 can be interleaved using a differentpattern, for example, interleaved with different CSSs such as CSS3 andCSS4 (as shown in FIG. 10 ).

In an embodiment, different POs have different max CSS repetitions. Forexample, the CSS for PO1 may have repetition R1_(MAX)>T_(S) whilst theCSS for PO2 may have max repetition R2_(MAX)<T_(S). In this embodiment,the CSS for PO1 is segmented and interleaved with the un-segmented CSSfor PO2.

In another embodiment, all CSSs have R1_(MAX)>T_(S). Each CSS (withR1_(MAX)) is segmented and the segment occupies multiple POs. That is,the CSS is spread among multiple POs. An example is shown in FIG. 11 ,where CSS1 (belonging to PO1) has R1_(MAX)>T_(S) and is segmented intotwo segments. The first segment occupies time t₁ to t₂ and the 2ndsegment occupies time t₄ to t₅. Similarly, CSS5 (belonging to PO2) hasR1_(MAX)>T_(S) and is segmented into two segments. The first segmentoccupies time t₂ to t₃ and the 2nd segment occupies time t₆ to t₇. Itshould be noted that the 2nd segment length of each of CSS1 and CSS2 isless than T₅ in this example.

In another embodiment, the overlapping problem shown in FIG. 8 can beovercome by ensuring the Paging Occasion period T_(PO)>R1_(MAX). Notethat this is easier to achieve than to ensure that T_(S)>R1_(MAX), sinceT_(PO) can be much larger than T_(S) (for example, up to 2560 subframes)and multiple different POs may fit within the T_(PO).

In embodiments, the segments of the NB-PDCCH search space can be definedby a predetermined pattern, this pattern being configured by the networkand, for example, transmitted to the UE 104 from the eNB 101 as systeminformation (in the System Information Block (SIB), for example). In anembodiment, the pattern may vary depending on the number of repeats ofthe NB-PDCCH, an identifier of the CSS which is used, or any otherparameter which the UE may discern from the CSS or NB-PDCCH. Therelationship between the predetermined pattern and the CSS or NB-PDCCHmay be determined and transmitted to the UE 104 by the eNB 101 and maybe in the form of a lookup table of the like. In another embodiment, thepattern may be fixed for the set of paging occasions associated with theUE (again, information indicative of this fixed pattern may bedetermined and transmitted to the UE 104 by the eNB 101).

It will thus be appreciated that, in a first embodiment, the presenttechnique provides a terminal device 104 for use with a wirelesstelecommunications network. The terminal device comprises a transceiver401, 402 and a controller 403. The controller is operable to control thetransceiver to begin receiving, during one of a plurality of periodicpaging occasions associated with the terminal device (for example, theplurality of periodic paging occasions PO1 or PO2), a scheduling signal(carried by the NB-PDCCH, for example) scheduling a paging message forpaging one or more terminal devices of the wireless telecommunicationsnetwork. Each periodic paging occasion associated with the terminaldevice is associated with a value of a characteristic of the schedulingsignal which is different from a value of the characteristic of thescheduling signal associated with one or more of each of the otherperiodic paging occasions associated with the terminal device and eachof periodic paging occasions associated with one or more other terminaldevices of the wireless telecommunications network. The controller isoperable to determine whether the value of the characteristic of thereceived scheduling signal matches the value of the characteristic ofthe scheduling signal associated with the one of the plurality ofperiodic paging occasions associated with the terminal device, and, ifthe value of the characteristic of the received scheduling signalmatches the value of the characteristic of the scheduling signalassociated with the one of the plurality of periodic paging occasionsassociated with the terminal device, to control the transceiver toreceive the paging message scheduled by the received scheduling message.

In one example, the characteristic of the scheduling signal is a pagingoccasion identifier identified by the scheduling signal. All periodicpaging occasions associated with the terminal device may be associatedwith the same identifier of the scheduling signal (thus, for example,each paging occasion in the plurality of paging occasions PO1 may havethe same index, each paging occasion in the plurality of pagingoccasions PO2 may have the same index, and so on). Alternatively, eachperiodic paging occasion associated with the terminal device may beassociated with an identifier of the scheduling signal which isdifferent from the identifier of the scheduling signal associated witheach of the other periodic paging occasions associated with the terminaldevice (thus, for example, each paging occasion in the plurality ofpaging occasions PO1 may have a version number which distinguishes itfrom the other paging occasions in the plurality PO1, each pagingoccasion in the plurality of paging occasions PO2 may have a versionnumber which distinguishes it from the other paging occasions in theplurality PO1, and so on). Any suitable identifier may be used as thepaging occasion identifier, including, for example, an identifiercomprising one or more of a PO index, PO version number or P-RNTInumber, as previously discussed.

In another example, the characteristic of the scheduling signal is ascrambling of the scheduling signal. All periodic paging occasionsassociated with the terminal device may be associated with the samescrambling of the scheduling signal (thus, for example, each pagingoccasion in the plurality of paging occasions PO1 may be associated withthe same scrambling of the scheduling signal, each paging occasion inthe plurality of paging occasions PO2 may be associated with the samescrambling of the scheduling signal, and so on). Alternatively, eachperiodic paging occasion associated with the terminal device may beassociated with a scrambling of the scheduling signal which is differentfrom the scrambling of the scheduling signal associated with each of theother periodic paging occasions associated with the terminal device(thus, for example, each paging occasion in the plurality of pagingoccasions PO1 may be associated with a different scrambling of thescheduling signal to the scrambling of the scheduling signal associatedwith the other paging occasions in the plurality PO1, each pagingoccasion in the plurality of paging occasions PO2 may be associated witha different scrambling of the scheduling signal to the scrambling of thescheduling signal associated with the other paging occasions in theplurality PO2, and so on).

In another example, the scheduling signal is transmitted using acandidate of a radio search space, the radio search space being definedby a plurality of candidates and each candidate of the radio searchspace being defined by a set of time and/or frequency radio resourcesfor use in repeatedly transmitting the scheduling signal a number oftimes associated with that candidate, and the controller is operable tocontrol the transceiver to attempt to receive the scheduling signal fromeach candidate of the radio search space. For example, the radio searchspace may be a CSS and the scheduling signal may be the repeatedlytransmitted NB-PDCCH. In this case the characteristic of the schedulingsignal is a starting time of the radio search space indicated by thescheduling signal, and the controller is operable to determine, on thebasis of the starting time of the radio search space and a starting timeof the scheduling signal, whether the scheduling signal belongs to aradio search space with a starting time which matches the starting timeof the one of the plurality of periodic paging occasions associated withthe terminal device, wherein the controller determines a match when thescheduling signal is determined to belong to a radio search space with astarting time which matches the starting time of the one of theplurality of periodic paging occasions associated with the terminaldevice.

In this first embodiment, the present technique also providesinfrastructure equipment 101 for use with a wireless telecommunicationsnetwork. The infrastructure equipment comprises a transceiver 411, 412and a controller 413. The controller is operable to control thetransceiver to begin transmitting, during the one of the plurality ofperiodic paging occasions associated with the terminal device 104, thescheduling signal scheduling the paging message for paging the terminaldevice in the way as described.

It will also be appreciated that, in a second embodiment, the presenttechnique provides a terminal device 101 for use with a wirelesstelecommunications network. The terminal device comprises a transceiver401, 402 and a controller 403. The controller is operable to control thetransceiver to begin receiving, during one of a plurality of periodicpaging occasions associated with the terminal device (for example, theplurality of periodic paging occasions PO1 or PO2), a scheduling signal(carried by the NB-PDCCH, for example) scheduling a paging message forpaging the terminal device. The scheduling signal is repeatedlytransmitted by the network a predetermined number of times over apredetermined plurality of separate time periods (in other words, theperiodic repeats of the scheduling signal are segmented, as shown inFIGS. 9 to 11 , for example), each of the separate time periods having aduration less than or equal to a time period between consecutiveperiodic paging occasions associated with the terminal device and withany other terminal device of the wireless telecommunications networkwith which a plurality of periodic paging occasions is associated, andone of the separate time periods being during a periodic paging occasionor between periodic paging occasions other than the one of the pluralityof periodic paging occasions during which the transceiver is controlledto begin receiving the scheduling signal. The controller is operable tocontrol the transceiver to receive the repetitions of the schedulingsignal over the predetermined plurality of separate time periods.

In one example, the total time taken for the scheduling signal to berepeatedly transmitted by the network is greater than the time periodbetween consecutive periodic paging occasions associated with theterminal device and with any other terminal device of the wirelesstelecommunications network with which a plurality of periodic pagingoccasions is associated. Scheduling signals with a duration of that ofCSS1 or CSS 5 (shown in FIGS. 9 to 11 ) are examples of such schedulingsignals.

In one example, the plurality of periodic paging occasions associatedwith the terminal device are interleaved with the plurality of periodicpaging occasions associated with any other terminal device of thewireless telecommunications network. This is shown, for example, inFIGS. 9 to 11 , in which paging occasions belonging to the plurality PO1are interleaved with paging occasions belonging to the plurality PO2.

In one example, the controller is operable to control the transceiver toreceive a signal from the wireless telecommunications network indicativeof the predetermined plurality of separate time periods. In this case,for example, information indicative of the predetermined plurality ofseparate time periods (in other words, the segmentation pattern of therepeatedly transmitted scheduling signal) is stored in the storagemedium 422 of the infrastructure equipment 101 and is signalled to theterminal device 104 using the transceiver 411, 412. The transceiver 401,402 of the terminal device then receives the signal and the informationindicative of the predetermined plurality of separate time periods isstored in the storage medium 420.

In one example, the number of other terminal devices of the wirelesstelecommunications network with which a plurality of periodic pagingoccasions is associated is one or more, and the plurality of periodicpaging occasions associated with the one or more other terminal devicesis different to the plurality of periodic paging occasions associatedwith the terminal device. In this case, for example, there are at leasttwo terminal devices in the wireless telecommunications network, whereinone terminal device is associated with the plurality of periodic pagingoccasions PO1 and the other terminal device is associated with theplurality of periodic paging occasions PO2, as shown in FIGS. 9 to 11 .In another example, there may be no other terminal devices associatedwith a plurality of different periodic paging occasions (in which case,the only paging occasions present are those associated with the terminaldevice 104). It is noted that the present technique will still work inthis case, in that if the terminal device knows the predeterminedplurality of separate time periods over which the scheduling signal isrepeatedly transmitted, the terminal device will know which pagingoccasion a particular set of repeats of the scheduling signal belongs to(thus avoiding the confusion arising from the situation shown in FIG. 8, for example).

In this second embodiment, the present technique also providesinfrastructure equipment 101 for use with a wireless telecommunicationsnetwork. The infrastructure equipment comprises a transceiver 411, 412and a controller 413. The controller is operable to control thetransceiver to begin transmitting, during the one of the plurality ofperiodic paging occasions associated with a terminal device 104, thescheduling signal scheduling the paging message for paging the terminaldevice in the way as described.

FIG. 12 illustrates a flow chart schematically showing a methodaccording to the first embodiment of the present technique. The methodstarts at step 1201. At step 1202, the terminal device 104 beginsreceiving a scheduling signal during one of a plurality of periodicpaging occasions associated with the terminal device. At step 1204, itis determined whether a value of a predetermined characteristicassociated with each of the received scheduling signal and the one ofthe plurality of paging occasions matches. In the case that there is nomatch, the method ends at step 1208. On the other hand, in the case thatthere is a match, the method moves on to step 1206, in which theterminal device receives a paging message scheduled by the schedulingsignal. The method then ends at step 1208.

FIG. 13 illustrates a flow chart schematically showing a methodaccording to the second embodiment of the present technique. The methodstarts at step 1301. At step 1302, the terminal device 104 beginsreceiving a scheduling signal during one of a plurality of periodicpaging occasions associated with the terminal device. At step 1303, theterminal device receives a predetermined number of repeats of thescheduling signal over a predetermined plurality of separate timeperiods. At step 1304, the terminal device receives a paging messagescheduled by the scheduling signal. The method then ends at step 1305.

Features of various embodiments of the present technique are describedby the following numbered clauses:

1. A terminal device for use with a wireless telecommunications network,the terminal device comprising:

a transceiver; and

a controller operable:

to control the transceiver to begin receiving, during one of a pluralityof periodic paging occasions associated with the terminal device, ascheduling signal scheduling a paging message for paging one or moreterminal devices of the wireless telecommunications network, eachperiodic paging occasion associated with the terminal device beingassociated with a value of a characteristic of the scheduling signalwhich is different from a value of the characteristic of the schedulingsignal associated with one or more of each of the other periodic pagingoccasions associated with the terminal device and each of periodicpaging occasions associated with one or more other terminal devices ofthe wireless telecommunications network;

to determine whether the value of the characteristic of the receivedscheduling signal matches the value of the characteristic of thescheduling signal associated with the one of the plurality of periodicpaging occasions associated with the terminal device; and

if the value of the characteristic of the received scheduling signalmatches the value of the characteristic of the scheduling signalassociated with the one of the plurality of periodic paging occasionsassociated with the terminal device, to control the transceiver toreceive the paging message scheduled by the received scheduling message.

2. A terminal device according to clause 1, wherein the characteristicof the scheduling signal is a paging occasion identifier identified bythe scheduling signal.

3. A terminal device according to clause 2, wherein all periodic pagingoccasions associated with the terminal device are associated with thesame identifier of the scheduling signal.

4. A terminal device according to clause 2, wherein each periodic pagingoccasion associated with the terminal device is associated with anidentifier of the scheduling signal which is different from theidentifier of the scheduling signal associated with each of the otherperiodic paging occasions associated with the terminal device.5. A terminal device according to clause 1, wherein the characteristicof the scheduling signal is a scrambling of the scheduling signal.6. A terminal device according to clause 5, wherein all periodic pagingoccasions associated with the terminal device are associated with thesame scrambling of the scheduling signal.7. A terminal device according to clause 5, wherein each periodic pagingoccasion associated with the terminal device is associated with ascrambling of the scheduling signal which is different from thescrambling of the scheduling signal associated with each of the otherperiodic paging occasions associated with the terminal device.8. A terminal device according to any preceding clause, wherein thescheduling signal is transmitted using a candidate of a radio searchspace, the radio search space being defined by a plurality of candidatesand each candidate of the radio search space being defined by a set oftime and/or frequency radio resources for use in repeatedly transmittingthe scheduling signal a number of times associated with that candidate,and wherein the controller is operable to control the transceiver toattempt to receive the scheduling signal from each candidate of theradio search space.9. A terminal device according to clause 1, wherein the schedulingsignal is transmitted using a candidate of a radio search space, theradio search space being defined by a plurality of candidates and eachcandidate of the radio search space being defined by a set of timeand/or frequency radio resources for use in repeatedly transmitting thescheduling signal a number of times associated with that candidate, andwherein the controller is operable to control the transceiver to attemptto receive the scheduling signal from each candidate of the radio searchspace, wherein the characteristic of the scheduling signal is a startingtime of the radio search space indicated by the scheduling signal, andthe controller is operable to determine, on the basis of the startingtime of the radio search space and a starting time of the schedulingsignal, whether the scheduling signal belongs to a radio search spacewith a starting time which matches the starting time of the one of theplurality of periodic paging occasions associated with the terminaldevice, wherein the controller determines a match when the schedulingsignal is determined to belong to a radio search space with a startingtime which matches the starting time of the one of the plurality ofperiodic paging occasions associated with the terminal device.10. A terminal device according to any preceding clause, wherein theterminal device is a Narrow Band Internet of Things (NB-IoT) terminaldevice and the scheduling signal is carried by a Narrow Band PhysicalDownlink Control Channel (NB-PDCCH).11. Infrastructure equipment for use with a wireless telecommunicationsnetwork, the infrastructure equipment comprising:

a transceiver; and

a controller operable:

to control the transceiver to begin transmitting, during one of aplurality of periodic paging occasions associated with a terminal deviceof the wireless telecommunications network, a scheduling signalscheduling a paging message for paging the terminal device, wherein avalue of a characteristic of the scheduling signal is associated withthe one of the plurality of periodic paging occasions associated withthe terminal device, each periodic paging occasion associated with theterminal device being associated with a value of the characteristic ofthe scheduling signal which is different from a value of thecharacteristic of the scheduling signal associated with one or more ofeach of the other periodic paging occasions associated with the terminaldevice and each of periodic paging occasions associated with one or moreother terminal devices of the wireless telecommunications network.

12. Infrastructure equipment according to clause 11, wherein thecharacteristic of the scheduling signal is a paging occasion identifieridentified by the scheduling signal.

13. Infrastructure equipment according to clause 12, wherein allperiodic paging occasions associated with the terminal device areassociated with the same identifier of the scheduling signal.

14. Infrastructure equipment according to clause 12, wherein eachperiodic paging occasion associated with the terminal device isassociated with an identifier of the scheduling signal which isdifferent from the identifier of the scheduling signal associated witheach of the other periodic paging occasions associated with the terminaldevice.15. Infrastructure equipment according to clause 11, wherein thecharacteristic of the scheduling signal is a scrambling of thescheduling signal.16. Infrastructure equipment according to clause 15, wherein allperiodic paging occasions associated with the terminal device areassociated with the same scrambling of the scheduling signal.17. Infrastructure equipment according to clause 15, wherein eachperiodic paging occasion associated with the terminal device isassociated with a scrambling of the scheduling signal which is differentfrom the scrambling of the scheduling signal associated with each of theother periodic paging occasions associated with the terminal device.18. Infrastructure equipment according to any one of clauses 11 to 17,wherein the scheduling signal is transmitted using a candidate of aradio search space, the radio search space being defined by a pluralityof candidates and each candidate of the radio search space being definedby a set of time and/or frequency radio resources for use in repeatedlytransmitting the scheduling signal a number of times associated withthat candidate.19. Infrastructure equipment according to clause 11, wherein thescheduling signal is transmitted using a candidate of a radio searchspace, the radio search space being defined by a plurality of candidatesand each candidate of the radio search space being defined by a set oftime and/or frequency radio resources for use in repeatedly transmittingthe scheduling signal a number of times associated with that candidate,wherein the characteristic of the scheduling signal is a starting timeof the radio search space indicated by the scheduling signal, thestarting time of the radio search space matching the starting time ofthe one of the plurality of periodic paging occasions associated withthe terminal device.20. Infrastructure equipment according to any one of clauses 11 to 19,wherein the terminal device is a Narrow Band Internet of Things (NB-IoT)terminal device and the scheduling signal is carried by a Narrow BandPhysical Downlink Control Channel (NB-PDCCH).21. A method of operating a terminal device for use with a wirelesstelecommunications network, the method comprising:

controlling a transceiver of the terminal device to begin receiving,during one of a plurality of periodic paging occasions associated withthe terminal device, a scheduling signal scheduling a paging message forpaging one or more terminal devices of the wireless telecommunicationsnetwork, each periodic paging occasion associated with the terminaldevice being associated with a value of a characteristic of thescheduling signal which is different from a value of the characteristicof the scheduling signal associated with one or more of each of theother periodic paging occasions associated with the terminal device andeach of periodic paging occasions associated with one or more otherterminal devices of the wireless telecommunications network;

determining whether the value of the characteristic of the receivedscheduling signal matches the value of the characteristic of thescheduling signal associated with the one of the plurality of periodicpaging occasions associated with the terminal device; and

if the value of the characteristic of the received scheduling signalmatches the value of the characteristic of the scheduling signalassociated with the one of the plurality of periodic paging occasionsassociated with the terminal device, controlling the transceiver toreceive the paging message scheduled by the received scheduling message.

22. A method of operating infrastructure equipment for use with awireless telecommunications network, the method comprising:

controlling a transceiver of the infrastructure equipment to begintransmitting, during one of a plurality of periodic paging occasionsassociated with a terminal device of the wireless telecommunicationsnetwork, a scheduling signal scheduling a paging message for paging theterminal device, wherein a value of a characteristic of the schedulingsignal is associated with the one of the plurality of periodic pagingoccasions associated with the terminal device, each periodic pagingoccasion associated with the terminal device being associated with avalue of the characteristic of the scheduling signal which is differentfrom a value of the characteristic of the scheduling signal associatedwith one or more of each of the other periodic paging occasionsassociated with the terminal device and each of periodic pagingoccasions associated with one or more other terminal devices of thewireless telecommunications network.

23. Integrated circuitry for a terminal device for use with a wirelesstelecommunications network, the integrated circuitry comprising:

a transceiver element; and

a controller element operable:

to control the transceiver element to begin receiving, during one of aplurality of periodic paging occasions associated with the terminaldevice, a scheduling signal scheduling a paging message for paging oneor more terminal devices of the wireless telecommunications network,each periodic paging occasion associated with the terminal device beingassociated with a value of a characteristic of the scheduling signalwhich is different from a value of the characteristic of the schedulingsignal associated with one or more of each of the other periodic pagingoccasions associated with the terminal device and each of periodicpaging occasions associated with one or more other terminal devices ofthe wireless telecommunications network;

to determine whether the value of the characteristic of the receivedscheduling signal matches the value of the characteristic of thescheduling signal associated with the one of the plurality of periodicpaging occasions associated with the terminal device; and

if the value of the characteristic of the received scheduling signalmatches the value of the characteristic of the scheduling signalassociated with the one of the plurality of periodic paging occasionsassociated with the terminal device, to control the transceiver elementto receive the paging message scheduled by the received schedulingmessage.

24. Integrated circuitry for infrastructure equipment for use with awireless telecommunications network, the integrated circuitrycomprising:

a transceiver element; and

a controller element operable:

to control the transceiver element to begin transmitting, during one ofa plurality of periodic paging occasions associated with a terminaldevice of the wireless telecommunications network, a scheduling signalscheduling a paging message for paging the terminal device, wherein avalue of a characteristic of the scheduling signal is associated withthe one of the plurality of periodic paging occasions associated withthe terminal device, each periodic paging occasion associated with theterminal device being associated with a value of the characteristic ofthe scheduling signal which is different from a value of thecharacteristic of the scheduling signal associated with one or more ofeach of the other periodic paging occasions associated with the terminaldevice and each of periodic paging occasions associated with one or moreother terminal devices of the wireless telecommunications network.

25. A wireless telecommunications network comprising a terminal deviceaccording to clause 1 and infrastructure equipment according to clause11.

26. A terminal device for use with a wireless telecommunicationsnetwork, the terminal device comprising:

a transceiver; and

a controller operable:

to control the transceiver to begin receiving, during one of a pluralityof periodic paging occasions associated with the terminal device, ascheduling signal scheduling a paging message for paging the terminaldevice; wherein

the scheduling signal is repeatedly transmitted by the network apredetermined number of times over a predetermined plurality of separatetime periods, each of the separate time periods having a duration lessthan or equal to a time period between consecutive periodic pagingoccasions associated with the terminal device and with any otherterminal device of the wireless telecommunications network with which aplurality of periodic paging occasions is associated, and one of theseparate time periods being during a periodic paging occasion or betweenperiodic paging occasions other than the one of the plurality ofperiodic paging occasions during which the transceiver is controlled tobegin receiving the scheduling signal; and

the controller is operable to control the transceiver to receive therepetitions of the scheduling signal over the predetermined plurality ofseparate time periods.

27. A terminal device according to clause 26, wherein the total timetaken for the scheduling signal to be repeatedly transmitted by thenetwork is greater than the time period between consecutive periodicpaging occasions associated with the terminal device and with any otherterminal device of the wireless telecommunications network with which aplurality of periodic paging occasions is associated.28. A terminal device according to clause 26 or 27, wherein theplurality of periodic paging occasions associated with the terminaldevice are interleaved with the plurality of periodic paging occasionsassociated with any other terminal device of the wirelesstelecommunications network.29. A terminal device according to any one of clauses 26 to 28, whereinthe controller is operable to control the transceiver to receive asignal from the wireless telecommunications network indicative of thepredetermined plurality of separate time periods.30. A terminal device according to any one of clauses 26 to 29, whereinthe number of other terminal devices of the wireless telecommunicationsnetwork with which a plurality of periodic paging occasions isassociated is one or more, and the plurality of periodic pagingoccasions associated with the one or more other terminal devices isdifferent to the plurality of periodic paging occasions associated withthe terminal device.31. A terminal device according to any one of clauses 26 to 30, whereinthe scheduling signal is transmitted using a candidate of a radio searchspace, the radio search space being defined by a plurality of candidatesand each candidate of the radio search space being defined by a set oftime and/or frequency radio resources for use in repeatedly transmittingthe scheduling signal a number of times associated with that candidate,and wherein the controller is operable to control the transceiver toattempt to receive the scheduling signal from each candidate of theradio search space.32. A terminal device according to any one of clauses 26 to 31, whereinthe terminal device is a Narrow Band Internet of Things (NB-IoT)terminal device and the scheduling signal is carried by a Narrow BandPhysical Downlink Control Channel (NB-PDCCH).33. Infrastructure equipment for use with a wireless telecommunicationsnetwork, the infrastructure equipment comprising:

a transceiver; and

a controller operable:

to control the transceiver to begin transmitting, during one of aplurality of periodic paging occasions associated with a terminal deviceof the wireless telecommunications network, a scheduling signalscheduling a paging message for paging the terminal device; wherein

the controller is operable to control the transceiver to repeatedlytransmit the scheduling signal a predetermined number of times over apredetermined plurality of separate time periods, each of the separatetime periods having a duration less than or equal to a time periodbetween consecutive periodic paging occasions associated with theterminal device and with any other terminal device of the wirelesstelecommunications network with which a plurality of periodic pagingoccasions is associated, and one of the separate time periods beingduring a periodic paging occasion or between periodic paging occasionsother than the one of the plurality of periodic paging occasions duringwhich the transceiver is controlled to begin transmitting the schedulingsignal.

34. Infrastructure equipment according to clause 33, wherein the totaltime taken for the scheduling signal to be repeatedly transmitted by thetransceiver is greater than the time period between consecutive periodicpaging occasions associated with the terminal device and with any otherterminal device of the wireless telecommunications network with which aplurality of periodic paging occasions is associated.35. Infrastructure equipment according to clause 33 or 34, wherein theplurality of periodic paging occasions associated with the terminaldevice are interleaved with the plurality of periodic paging occasionsassociated with any other terminal device of the wirelesstelecommunications network.36. Infrastructure equipment according to any one of claims 33 to 35,wherein the controller is operable to control the transceiver totransmit a signal to the terminal device indicative of the predeterminedplurality of separate time periods.37. Infrastructure equipment according to any one of clauses 33 to 36,wherein the number of other terminal devices of the wirelesstelecommunications network with which a plurality of periodic pagingoccasions is associated is one or more, and the plurality of periodicpaging occasions associated with the one or more other terminal devicesis different to the plurality of periodic paging occasions associatedwith the terminal device.38. Infrastructure equipment according to any one of clauses 33 to 37,wherein the scheduling signal is transmitted using a candidate of aradio search space, the radio search space being defined by a pluralityof candidates and each candidate of the radio search space being definedby a set of time and/or frequency radio resources for use in repeatedlytransmitting the scheduling signal a number of times associated withthat candidate.39. Infrastructure equipment according to any one of clauses 33 to 38,wherein the terminal device is a Narrow Band Internet of Things (NB-IoT)terminal device and the scheduling signal is carried by a Narrow BandPhysical Downlink Control Channel (NB-PDCCH).40. A method of operating a terminal device for use with a wirelesstelecommunications network, the method comprising:

controlling a transceiver of the terminal device to begin receiving,during one of a plurality of periodic paging occasions associated withthe terminal device, a scheduling signal scheduling a paging message forpaging the terminal device; wherein

the scheduling signal is repeatedly transmitted by the network apredetermined number of times over a predetermined plurality of separatetime periods, each of the separate time periods having a duration lessthan or equal to a time period between consecutive periodic pagingoccasions associated with the terminal device and with any otherterminal device of the wireless telecommunications network with which aplurality of periodic paging occasions is associated, and one of theseparate time periods being during a periodic paging occasion or betweenperiodic paging occasions other than the one of the plurality ofperiodic paging occasions during which the transceiver is controlled tobegin receiving the scheduling signal; and

transceiver is controlled to receive the repetitions of the schedulingsignal over the predetermined plurality of separate time periods.

41. A method of operating infrastructure equipment for use with awireless telecommunications network, the method comprising:

controlling a transceiver of the infrastructure equipment to begintransmitting, during one of a plurality of periodic paging occasionsassociated with a terminal device of the wireless telecommunicationsnetwork, a scheduling signal scheduling a paging message for paging theterminal device; wherein

the transceiver is controlled to repeatedly transmit the schedulingsignal a predetermined number of times over a predetermined plurality ofseparate time periods, each of the separate time periods having aduration less than or equal to a time period between consecutiveperiodic paging occasions associated with the terminal device and withany other terminal device of the wireless telecommunications networkwith which a plurality of periodic paging occasions is associated, andone of the separate time periods being during a periodic paging occasionor between periodic paging occasions other than the one of the pluralityof periodic paging occasions during which the transceiver is controlledto begin transmitting the scheduling signal.

42. Integrated circuitry for a terminal device for use with a wirelesstelecommunications network, the integrated circuitry comprising:

a transceiver element; and

a controller element operable:

to control the transceiver element to begin receiving, during one of aplurality of periodic paging occasions associated with the terminaldevice, a scheduling signal scheduling a paging message for paging theterminal device; wherein

the scheduling signal is repeatedly transmitted by the network apredetermined number of times over a predetermined plurality of separatetime periods, each of the separate time periods having a duration lessthan or equal to a time period between consecutive periodic pagingoccasions associated with the terminal device and with any otherterminal device of the wireless telecommunications network with which aplurality of periodic paging occasions is associated, and one of theseparate time periods being during a periodic paging occasion or betweenperiodic paging occasions other than the one of the plurality ofperiodic paging occasions during which the transceiver element iscontrolled to begin receiving the scheduling signal; and

the controller element is operable to control the transceiver element toreceive the repetitions of the scheduling signal over the predeterminedplurality of separate time periods.

43. Integrated circuitry for operating infrastructure equipment for usewith a wireless telecommunications network, the integrated circuitrycomprising:

a transceiver element; and

a controller element operable:

to control the transceiver element to begin transmitting, during one ofa plurality of periodic paging occasions associated with a terminaldevice of the wireless telecommunications network, a scheduling signalscheduling a paging message for paging the terminal device; wherein

the controller element is operable to control the transceiver torepeatedly transmit the scheduling signal a predetermined number oftimes over a predetermined plurality of separate time periods, each ofthe separate time periods having a duration less than or equal to a timeperiod between consecutive periodic paging occasions associated with theterminal device and with any other terminal device of the wirelesstelecommunications network with which a plurality of periodic pagingoccasions is associated, and one of the separate time periods beingduring a periodic paging occasion or between periodic paging occasionsother than the one of the plurality of periodic paging occasions duringwhich the transceiver element is controlled to begin transmitting thescheduling signal.

44. A wireless telecommunications network comprising a terminal deviceaccording to clause 26 and infrastructure equipment according to clause33.

Numerous modifications and variations of the present disclosure arepossible in light of the above teachings. It is therefore to beunderstood that within the scope of the appended claims, the disclosuremay be practiced otherwise than as specifically described herein.In so far as embodiments of the disclosure have been described as beingimplemented, at least in part, by software-controlled data processingapparatus, it will be appreciated that a non-transitory machine-readablemedium carrying such software, such as an optical disk, a magnetic disk,semiconductor memory or the like, is also considered to represent anembodiment of the present disclosure.It will be appreciated that the above description for clarity hasdescribed embodiments with reference to different functional units,circuitry and/or processors. However, it will be apparent that anysuitable distribution of functionality between different functionalunits, circuitry and/or processors may be used without detracting fromthe embodiments.Described embodiments may be implemented in any suitable form includinghardware, software, firmware or any combination of these. Describedembodiments may optionally be implemented at least partly as computersoftware miming on one or more data processors and/or digital signalprocessors. The elements and components of any embodiment may bephysically, functionally and logically implemented in any suitable way.Indeed the functionality may be implemented in a single unit, in aplurality of units or as part of other functional units. As such, thedisclosed embodiments may be implemented in a single unit or may bephysically and functionally distributed between different units,circuitry and/or processors.Although the present disclosure has been described in connection withsome embodiments, it is not intended to be limited to the specific formset forth herein. Additionally, although a feature may appear to bedescribed in connection with particular embodiments, one skilled in theart would recognize that various features of the described embodimentsmay be combined in any manner suitable to implement the technique.

ANNEX 1

The simplified structure of the downlink of an LTE wireless accessinterface presented in FIG. 2 , also includes an illustration of eachsubframe 201, which comprises a control region 205 for the transmissionof control data, a data region 206 for the transmission of user data,reference signals 207 and synchronisation signals which are interspersedin the control and data regions in accordance with a predeterminedpattern. The control region 204 may contain a number of physicalchannels for the transmission of control data, such as a physicaldownlink control channel PDCCH, a physical control format indicatorchannel PCFICH and a physical HARQ indicator channel PHICH. The dataregion may contain a number of physical channel for the transmission ofdata, such as a physical downlink shared channel PDSCH and a physicalbroadcast channels PBCH. Although these physical channels provide a widerange of functionality to LTE systems, in terms of resource allocationand the present disclosure PDCCH and PDSCH are most relevant. Furtherinformation on the structure and functioning of the physical channels ofLTE systems can be found in [1].

Resources within the PDSCH may be allocated by an eNodeB to UEs beingserved by the eNodeB. For example, a number of resource blocks of thePDSCH may be allocated to a UE in order that it may receive data that ithas previously requested or data which is being pushed to it by theeNodeB, such as radio resource control RRC signalling. In FIG. 2 , UE1has been allocated resources 208 of the data region 206, UE2 resources209 and UE resources 210. UEs in a an LTE system may be allocated afraction of the available resources of the PDSCH and therefore UEs arerequired to be informed of the location of their allocated resourceswithin the PDCSH so that only relevant data within the PDSCH is detectedand estimated. In order to inform the UEs of the location of theirallocated communications resources, resource control informationspecifying downlink resource allocations is conveyed across the PDCCH ina form termed downlink control information DCI, where resourceallocations for a PDSCH are communicated in a preceding PDCCH instancein the same subframe. During a resource allocation procedure, UEs thusmonitor the PDCCH for DCI addressed to them and once such a DCI isdetected, receive the DCI and detect and estimate the data from therelevant part of the PDSCH.

Each uplink subframe may include a plurality of different channels, forexample a physical uplink shared channel PUSCH 305, a physical uplinkcontrol channel PUCCH 306, and a physical random access channel PRACH.The physical Uplink Control Channel PUCCH may carry control informationsuch as ACK/NACK to the eNodeB for downlink transmissions, schedulingrequest indicators SRI for UEs wishing to be scheduled uplink resources,and feedback of downlink channel state information CSI for example. ThePUSCH may carry UE uplink data or some uplink control data. Resources ofthe PUSCH are granted via PDCCH, such a grant being typically triggeredby communicating to the network the amount of data ready to betransmitted in a buffer at the UE. The PRACH may be scheduled in any ofthe resources of an uplink frame in accordance with a one of a pluralityof PRACH patterns that may be signalled to UE in downlink signallingsuch as system information blocks. As well as physical uplink channels,uplink subframes may also include reference signals. For example,demodulation reference signals DMRS 307 and sounding reference signalsSRS 308 may be present in an uplink subframe where the DMRS occupy thefourth symbol of a slot in which PUSCH is transmitted and are used fordecoding of PUCCH and PUSCH data, and where SRS are used for uplinkchannel estimation at the eNodeB. Further information on the structureand functioning of the physical channels of LTE systems can be found in[1].

In an analogous manner to the resources of the PDSCH, resources of thePUSCH are required to be scheduled or granted by the serving eNodeB andthus if data is to be transmitted by a UE, resources of the PUSCH arerequired to be granted to the UE by the eNodeB. At a UE, PUSCH resourceallocation is achieved by the transmission of a scheduling request or abuffer status report to its serving eNodeB. The scheduling request maybe made, when there is insufficient uplink resource for the UE to send abuffer status report, via the transmission of Uplink Control InformationUCI on the PUCCH when there is no existing PUSCH allocation for the UE,or by transmission directly on the PUSCH when there is an existing PUSCHallocation for the UE. In response to a scheduling request, the eNodeBis configured to allocate a portion of the PUSCH resource to therequesting UE sufficient for transferring a buffer status report andthen inform the UE of the buffer status report resource allocation via aDCI in the PDCCH. Once or if the UE has PUSCH resource adequate to senda buffer status report, the buffer status report is sent to the eNodeBand gives the eNodeB information regarding the amount of data in anuplink buffer or buffers at the UE. After receiving the buffer statusreport, the eNodeB can allocate a portion of the PUSCH resources to thesending UE in order to transmit some of its buffered uplink data andthen inform the UE of the resource allocation via a DCI in the PDCCH.For example, presuming a UE has a connection with the eNodeB, the UEwill first transmit a PUSCH resource request in the PUCCH in the form ofa UCI. The UE will then monitor the PDCCH for an appropriate DCI,extract the details of the PUSCH resource allocation, and transmituplink data, at first comprising a buffer status report, and/or latercomprising a portion of the buffered data, in the allocated resources.

Although similar in structure to downlink subframes, uplink subframeshave a different control structure to downlink subframes, in particularthe upper 309 and lower 310 subcarriers/frequencies/resource blocks ofan uplink subframe are reserved for control signalling rather than theinitial symbols of a downlink subframe. Furthermore, although theresource allocation procedure for the downlink and uplink are relativelysimilar, the actual structure of the resources that may be allocated mayvary due to the different characteristics of the OFDM and SC-FDMinterfaces that are used in the downlink and uplink respectively. InOFDM each subcarrier is individually modulated and therefore it is notnecessary that frequency/subcarrier allocation are contiguous however,in SC-FDM subcarriers are modulation in combination and therefore ifefficient use of the available resources are to be made contiguousfrequency allocations for each UE are preferable.

As a result of the above described wireless interface structure andoperation, one or more UEs may communicate data to one another via acoordinating eNodeB, thus forming a conventional cellulartelecommunications system. Although cellular communications system suchas those based on the previously released LTE standards have beencommercially successful, a number of disadvantages are associated withsuch centralised systems. For example, if two UEs which are in closeproximity wish to communicate with each other, uplink and downlinkresources sufficient to convey the data are required. Consequently, twoportions of the system's resources are being used to convey a singleportion of data. A second disadvantage is that an eNodeB is required ifUEs, even when in close proximity, wish to communicate with one another.These limitations may be problematic when the system is experiencinghigh load or eNodeB coverage is not available, for instance in remoteareas or when eNodeBs are not functioning correctly. Overcoming theselimitations may increase both the capacity and efficiency of LTEnetworks but also lead to the creations of new revenue possibilities forLTE network operators.

REFERENCES

-   [1] LTE for UMTS: OFDMA and SC-FDMA Based Radio Access, Harris Holma    and Antti Toskala, Wiley 2009, ISBN 978-0-470-99401-6.-   [2] RP-151621, “New Work Item: NarrowBand IOT NB-IOT,” Qualcomm, RAN    #69-   [3] R1-157783, “Way Forward on NB-IoT,” CMCC, Vodafone, Ericsson,    Huawei, HiSilicon, Deutsche Telekom, Mediatek, Qualcomm, Nokia    Networks, Samsung, Intel, Neul, CATR, AT&T, NTT DOCOMO, ZTE, Telecom    Italia, IITH, CEWiT, Reliance-Jio, CATT, u-blox, China Unicom, LG    Electronics, Panasonic, Alcatel-Lucent, Alcatel-Lucent Shanghai    Bell, China Telecom, RAN1 #83

The invention claimed is:
 1. A terminal device for use with a wirelesstelecommunications network, the terminal device comprising: atransceiver; and a controller operable: to control the transceiver tobegin receiving, during one of a plurality of periodic paging occasionsassociated with the terminal device, a scheduling signal scheduling apaging message for paging the terminal device; wherein the schedulingsignal is repeatedly transmitted by the network a predetermined numberof times over a predetermined plurality of separate time periods, eachof the separate time periods having a duration less than or equal to atime period between consecutive periodic paging occasions associatedwith the terminal device and with any other terminal device of thewireless telecommunications network with which a plurality of periodicpaging occasions is associated, and one of the separate time periodsbeing during a periodic paging occasion or between periodic pagingoccasions other than the one of the plurality of periodic pagingoccasions during which the transceiver is controlled to begin receivingthe scheduling signal; and the controller is operable to control thetransceiver to receive the repetitions of the scheduling signal over thepredetermined plurality of separate time periods.
 2. A terminal deviceaccording to claim 1, wherein the total time taken for the schedulingsignal to be repeatedly transmitted by the network is greater than thetime period between consecutive periodic paging occasions associatedwith the terminal device and with any other terminal device of thewireless telecommunications network with which a plurality of periodicpaging occasions is associated.
 3. A terminal device according to claim1, wherein the plurality of periodic paging occasions associated withthe terminal device are interleaved with the plurality of periodicpaging occasions associated with any other terminal device of thewireless telecommunications network.
 4. A terminal device according toclaim 1, wherein the controller is operable to control the transceiverto receive a signal from the wireless telecommunications networkindicative of the predetermined plurality of separate time periods.
 5. Aterminal device according to claim 1, wherein the number of otherterminal devices of the wireless telecommunications network with which aplurality of periodic paging occasions is associated is one or more, andthe plurality of periodic paging occasions associated with the one ormore other terminal devices is different to the plurality of periodicpaging occasions associated with the terminal device.
 6. A terminaldevice according to claim 1, wherein the scheduling signal istransmitted using a candidate of a radio search space, the radio searchspace being defined by a plurality of candidates and each candidate ofthe radio search space being defined by a set of time and/or frequencyradio resources for use in repeatedly transmitting the scheduling signala number of times associated with that candidate, and wherein thecontroller is operable to control the transceiver to attempt to receivethe scheduling signal from each candidate of the radio search space. 7.A terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the terminal device is aNarrow Band Internet of Things (NB-IoT) terminal device and thescheduling signal is carried by a Narrow Band Physical Downlink ControlChannel (NB-PDCCH).
 8. Infrastructure equipment for use with a wirelesstelecommunications network, the infrastructure equipment comprising: atransceiver; and a controller operable: to control the transceiver tobegin transmitting, during one of a plurality of periodic pagingoccasions associated with a terminal device of the wirelesstelecommunications network, a scheduling signal scheduling a pagingmessage for paging the terminal device; wherein the controller isoperable to control the transceiver to repeatedly transmit thescheduling signal a predetermined number of times over a predeterminedplurality of separate time periods, each of the separate time periodshaving a duration less than or equal to a time period betweenconsecutive periodic paging occasions associated with the terminaldevice and with any other terminal device of the wirelesstelecommunications network with which a plurality of periodic pagingoccasions is associated, and one of the separate time periods beingduring a periodic paging occasion or between periodic paging occasionsother than the one of the plurality of periodic paging occasions duringwhich the transceiver is controlled to begin transmitting the schedulingsignal.
 9. Infrastructure equipment according to claim 8, wherein thetotal time taken for the scheduling signal to be repeatedly transmittedby the transceiver is greater than the time period between consecutiveperiodic paging occasions associated with the terminal device and withany other terminal device of the wireless telecommunications networkwith which a plurality of periodic paging occasions is associated. 10.Infrastructure equipment according to claim 8, wherein the plurality ofperiodic paging occasions associated with the terminal device areinterleaved with the plurality of periodic paging occasions associatedwith any other terminal device of the wireless telecommunicationsnetwork.
 11. Infrastructure equipment according to claim 8, wherein thecontroller is operable to control the transceiver to transmit a signalto the terminal device indicative of the predetermined plurality ofseparate time periods.
 12. Infrastructure equipment according to claim8, wherein the number of other terminal devices of the wirelesstelecommunications network with which a plurality of periodic pagingoccasions is associated is one or more, and the plurality of periodicpaging occasions associated with the one or more other terminal devicesis different to the plurality of periodic paging occasions associatedwith the terminal device.
 13. Infrastructure equipment according toclaim 8, wherein the scheduling signal is transmitted using a candidateof a radio search space, the radio search space being defined by aplurality of candidates and each candidate of the radio search spacebeing defined by a set of time and/or frequency radio resources for usein repeatedly transmitting the scheduling signal a number of timesassociated with that candidate.
 14. Infrastructure equipment accordingto claim 8, wherein the terminal device is a Narrow Band Internet ofThings (NB-IoT) terminal device and the scheduling signal is carried bya Narrow Band Physical Downlink Control Channel (NB-PDCCH).
 15. A methodof operating infrastructure equipment for use with a wirelesstelecommunications network, the method comprising: controlling atransceiver of the infrastructure equipment to begin transmitting,during one of a plurality of periodic paging occasions associated with aterminal device of the wireless telecommunications network, a schedulingsignal scheduling a paging message for paging the terminal device;wherein the transceiver is controlled to repeatedly transmit thescheduling signal a predetermined number of times over a predeterminedplurality of separate time periods, each of the separate time periodshaving a duration less than or equal to a time period betweenconsecutive periodic paging occasions associated with the terminaldevice and with any other terminal device of the wirelesstelecommunications network with which a plurality of periodic pagingoccasions is associated, and one of the separate time periods beingduring a periodic paging occasion or between periodic paging occasionsother than the one of the plurality of periodic paging occasions duringwhich the transceiver is controlled to begin transmitting the schedulingsignal.